1. Write 3 longer-form blog articles per week

Many of the other pieces of content you produce will be leftovers from this main meal.

So delve into stats, case studies & other research to make your blogging as comprehensive as possible. Not only will this make the content more valuable to your reader, it’ll establish you as a trusted source of good information, and be easier to re-use down the line.

2. Create 2 SlideShare presentations per week

SlideShare is a content-sharing website (free to use) which makes your business presentations available to a huge number of users. The presentations are fully embeddable, downloadable, shareable & Likeable -- and the SEO of SlideShare is growing daily as the site gets more popular.

A few months ago, I was making a SlideShare presentation for every blog article I wrote. The problem was that some articles don’t lend themselves to presentation format (bullet-points, an image on every slide, etc). So I was forcing it.

The presentations weren’t as appealing as I would have liked. They took me more time than they should have & my return on my time was pretty abysmal.

Here’s what I recommend:

compile the data from 1 or 2 of your longer-form blog articles (or stats or facts you’ve come across this week)

compile a visually appealing SlideShare

embed it on your blog with a short description & promote it across your social channels

If you’re interested in a more comprehensive look at SlideShare, check out:

3. Syndicate your content

A couple times a week, syndicate your blog articles, infographics & SlideShare presentations to the many sites available across the web. This helps with link-building (great for SEO) and furthers your brand & content reach.

4. Leave 3 comments daily on influencer blogs

Influencer marketing is basically the practice of reaching out to online thought leaders in your industry & encouraging them to help promote your brand.

Every industry has them, it’s just a matter of finding them (try Klout, PeerIndex or Kred) and getting in touch.

Try to comment on 2-3 blogs each day -- writing intelligent, insightful observations, asking reasonable questions, or even disagreeing in an informed & respectful manner.

Commenting gets your name in an influencer’s mind -- so interactions on Twitter or Facebook will mean more. Asking for a share of your own blog will be better received if they know you’ve shared their stuff online.

5. Bi-weekly infographic

The shift toward more visual, bite-sized content is well underway.

This doesn’t mean you get to stop blogging entirely (you still need that turkey dinner), but it does mean you get to learn Photoshop.

Use the stats, main points, case studies & interesting factoids you compiled for your blog article & turn them into something more visual & more palatable for your audience.

Infographics are more shareable than long-form articles -- and they receive more downloads, embeds & engagement overall.

Of course, for small businesses without a graphic designer, infographics can be tough. But I urge you to experiment with free design software (if you can’t afford or don’t already have Photoshop, InDesign or Adobe Illustrator) like Gimp, Info.gram or Piktochart.

6. Monthly ebook

Ebooks are the end product of your content recycling program.

Once you’ve written 5 or 6 awesome blog articles on the same subject, compile them into an ebook then put it up on your website.

This can be done with PowerPoint, but I really recommend InDesign so the final product comes out more professional & appealing to the reader.

Ebooks are valuable -- more valuable than any blog article, SlideShare presentation or infographic you’ve ever created. They should be comprehensive guides on their subject -- something people can download & save to their computer & check back on for inspiration & guidance.

As such, you shouldn’t necessarily be giving them away for free.

What many businesses do is create an ebook landing page describing what the ebook contains & how awesome it is, and then ask for an email address in order to access it.

This puts the entrant into your email marketing stream, and because they’ve expressed interest in the specific ebook they’ve downloaded, they’ve already segmented themselves for your marketing emails which lead to -- down the lead-nurturing line -- a sale.

Conclusion

Hopefully you now have a better idea of the benefits of content calendars & what they should include.

I've given you my best breakdown of many of the content strategies you need to be employing this year.

Good luck with your calendars, and let me know if you have anything to add in the comments below!